In an another effort to conquer all things digital, Google Inc. just announced through their official blog they will be acquiring Motorola Mobility for the staggering amount of $12.5 billion. This acquisition by the search engine giant is said to be in-line with the effort of strengthening the Android ecosystem.As stated above, the news came directly from an entry posted in Google's official blog by no other than the company's CEO, Larry Page. He starts the announcement by relating the worldwide success of the Android platform, with its 150 million installed user base and over 550,000 devices activated daily. With the Android platform's success, Google is looking for new ways to further strengthen it. In addition, Page detailed Motorola's success as well.

Given Android’s phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.

The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences. I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders.

This particular acquisition only proves that Google is getting ready to kick it into high gear when it comes to their Android platform. This is also seen as a move to directly compete with Apple in the sense that they will have both the hardware and software. Once the acquisition is complete, it means that Google will now be able directly influence every Android smartphone that will come out from Motorola's stable.

Larry Page also addressed that this acquisition is a move that will enable the company to protect itself from the alleged anti-competitive strategies that Apple and Microsoft have been employing. If anyone can recall, Google accused Apple and Microsoft of utilizing patents as a way to hamper the growth of Android which the company calls as "anti-competitive".

Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

With this acquisition, it should be interesting to hear what other Android smartphone manufacturers like Samsung and HTC has to say. Although Google gave an assurance that it will be healthy for the competition. According to the company, Android will remain open and Motorola will remain as a licensee of Android. They said that they will running Motorola as a separate company.

But of course, the acquisition is still subjected for approval by the US regulators and all the concerned parties. But once approved, the transition should be complete by the end of this year or maybe early next year.

This move was rather unexpected as Google is not the company that typically buys hardware. While it still remains to be seen if this is a good move for the company, it should definitely give them a good patent punch against its major competitors like Apple and Microsoft. This is certainly an interesting turn of events, and we'll just have to wait and see if this move proves to be beneficial for Google. [via GoogleOfficialBlog]